Methods: A longitudinal study design was used. Participants were recruited from the postnatal ward of a medical center in central Taiwan. Excluding those with complications from pregnancy and delivery, a total of 118 postpartum women with normal spontaneous delivery were recruited. One-hundred six women were completely followed up upon. A structural questionnaire was used and included: 1. Three traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) body constitution scales: yang-xu, yin-xu, and stasis; 2. Demographic data. This instrument has been tested for reliability and validity. The internal consistency values of the yang-xu, yin-xu, and Stasis constitution scales were 0.86, 0.83, and 0.81 using Cronbach’s α coefficient. Data were collected by the same staff from June 2009 to January 2010(including the follow-up).
Results: The mean age of the 118 participants was 30.3 ±3.9. Postpartum women’s scores for yang-xu, yin-xu, and stasis constitution in the six months after childbirth varied. The lowest scores of yang-xu, yin-xu, and stasis constitution occurred in five weeks after childbirth (28.5±7.2 vs. 31.6±8.6 vs. 25.7±7.9), and were highest in six months after childbirth (31.7±9.5 vs. 33.6±10.8 vs. 27.3±9.0). Yin-xu and stasis constitution scores five weeks after childbirth were similar to pre-pregnancy levels but other time points were higher than pre-pregnancy. Yang-xu constitution scores returned to pre-pregnancy levels at six months after childbirth. Repeated measures ANOVA analysis revealed that the mean score of yang-xu, yin-xu body constitution were statistically different between pre-pregnant women and postpartum women (p<0.05). The mean scores of stasis body constitution in pre-pregnant women and postpartum women were different and at the boundary line of being statistically significant (p=0.05).
Conclusion: This study established evidence data for yang-xu, yin-xu, and stasis body constitution values and their changes within the six months following childbirth. The results might provide obstetric medical professionals planning for six months postpartum TCM body constitution healthcare measures basis.